REPENTANCE
“If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just
and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness.”
I John 1:9
Saying “I’m sorry” to someone we have hurt
is almost a thing of the past. We can
see the effects of this in our society today.
Look at the cruelty, fraud, theft, killings – disregard for, disrespect
for, disobedience, and rebellion against God’s laws which affect all of
us. Listening to court trials of news
reports on television, the only thing we generally see is that the person is
sorry they got caught. This is not being
sorry or “repenting” for the sins of wrongdoing.
True repentance involves obedience,
responsibility, action, and change. How
many of us compare ourselves to others so we do not look so bad – I’m afraid
all of us do this from time to time. If
we viewed our sins as God sees them, however, we would be repelled by them and
want to run from them. Not only because
sin causes so many problems in our own lives, but also our sins cause problems
for those we love, for our society, for our world, and our sins ultimately
separate us from God.
However, God, through the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ on the cross, holds out the gift of grace to all of us who truly
“repent” and turn from our sinful ways to Him.
Forgiveness washes us clean of our sins and God no longer holds us
accountable for them. Then daily, relying
on the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can walk in obedience to God’s Word and
live lives both pleasing to God and also lives which will be best for us and
everyone with whom we come in contact.
Repentance brings life. We can
get on with living in Jesus in the truest sense of the word.
Written by
Carol Lynn Steficek
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